Nonprofit Organizations and NGOs speak out about the conviction and sentencing of Charles Taylor, as well as its implication for human rights, international justice, and for the people of Sierra Leone and Liberia.

A UN-backed international war crimes tribunal sentenced former Liberian President Charles Taylor, 64, to 50 years in prison, stating that the former president "was responsible for aiding and abetting, as well as planning, some of the most heinous and brtual crimes recorded in human history." In May Taylor was convicted on 11 counts of war cimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the brutal Sierra Leone 1991-2001 civil war, becoming the first former head of state to be convicted by an international court for war crimes since the Nuremberg trials. Source: LA Times